Consideration of Bill: 2 March 2010

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(2)	In this section and in section [Protocol for running of prosecution services] “the

Directors” means—

(a)	the Director of Public Prosecutions;

(b)	the Director of the Serious Fraud Office;

(c)	the Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions.’.

Protocol for running of prosecution services

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC9

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Attorney General must, in consultation with the Directors, prepare a

statement (a “protocol”) of how the Attorney General and the Directors are to

exercise their functions in relation to each other.

(2)	The protocol may in particular includes provisions as to—

(a)	the general responsibilities of the Attorney General and each of the

Directors;

(b)	the arrangements for ensuring that the Attorney General is properly

advised on matters relating to the strategic direction of the prosecution

services and on matters affecting more than one prosecution service;

(c)	the circumstances in which the Attorney General is to be consulted or

provided with information;

(d)	the objectives of the prosecution services;

(e)	the way in which the objectives are set and the means by which their

achievement or otherwise is reviewed;

(f)	the roles of the Attorney General and the Directors in relation to criminal

justice policy;

(g)	the way in which matters relating to the accountability of the Attorney

General to Parliament for the prosecution services are to be handled;

(h)	the roles of the Attorney General and the Directors in relation to dealings

with representatives of the press and other media;

(i)	procedures for dealing with complaints relating to the prosecution

services.

(3)	The Attorney General must lay the protocol before Parliament.

(4)	The protocol shall come into force when a resolution approving it has been passed

by each House of Parliament.

(5)	The Attorney General must from time to time review the protocol and may, in

consultation with the Directors, revise it.

(6)	If the protocol is revised, the procedure in (3) and (4) above applies.

(7)	The Attorney General and the Directors must have regard to any relevant

provisions of the protocol when carrying out their functions.

Consideration of Bill: 2 March 2010

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(8)	“The prosecution services” means the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious

Fraud Office and the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office.’.

Director of Public Prosecutions

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC10

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Director of Public Prosecutions—

(a)	is appointed by the Attorney General, and

(b)	subject to what follows, holds office in accordance with the terms of the

appointment.

(2)	The Director must have a 10 year general qualification, within the meaning of

section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41).

(3)	Service as the Director is service in the civil service of the State.

(4)	There is to be paid to the Director such remuneration as the Attorney General

may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

(5)	Any appointment under subsection (1) must be for a term of five years.

(6)	The Director may at any time resign by notice in writing to the Attorney General.

(7)	The Attorney General may remove the Director from office only if satisfied that

the Director is unable, unfit or unwilling to carry out the functions of the office.

(8)	The factors which the Attorney General may take into account in determining

whether the Director is unfit to carry out the functions of the office include in

particular—

(a)	failure by the Director to comply with section [Protocol for running of

prosecution services] (7) (duty to have regard to relevant provisions of

protocol), and

(b)	failure by the Director to perform the functions of the office efficiently

and effectively.’.

Director of the Serious Fraud Office

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC11

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Director of the Serious Fraud Office—

(a)	is appointed by the Attorney General, and

(b)	subject to what follows, holds office in accordance with the terms of the

appointment.

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(2)	Service as the Director is service in the civil service of the State.

(3)	There is to be paid to the Director such remuneration as the Attorney General

may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

(4)	Any appointment under subsection (1) must be for a term of five years.

(5)	The Director may at any time resign by notice in writing to the Attorney General.

(6)	The Attorney General may remove the Director from office only if satisfied that

the Director is unable, unfit or unwilling to carry out the functions of the office.

(7)	The factors which the Attorney General may take into account in determining

whether the Director is unfit to carry out the functions of the office include in

particular—

(a)	failure by the Director to comply with section [Protocol for running of

prosecution services] (7) (duty to have regard to relevant provisions of

protocol), and

(b)	failure by the Director to perform the functions of the office efficiently

and effectively.’.

Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC12

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions—

(a)	is appointed by the Attorney General, and

(b)	subject to what follows, holds office in accordance with the terms of the

appointment.

(2)	The Director must have a 10 year general qualification, within the meaning of

section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41).

(3)	Service as the Director is service in the civil service of the State.

(4)	There is to be paid to the Director such remuneration as the Attorney General

may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

(5)	Any appointment under subsection (1) must be for a term of five years.

(6)	The Director may at any time resign by notice in writing to the Attorney General.

(7)	The Attorney General may remove the Director from office only if satisfied that

the Director is unable, unfit or unwilling to carry out the functions of the office.

(8)	The factors which the Attorney General may take into account in determining

whether the Director is unfit to carry out the functions of the office include, in

particular—

(a)	failure by the Director to comply with section [Protocol for running of

prosecution services] (7) (duty to have regard to relevant provisions of

protocol), and

(b)	failure by the Director to perform the functions of the office efficiently

and effectively.’.

Consideration of Bill: 2 March 2010

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

Ending of prosecution consent functions of Attorney

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC13

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	All provisions under any enactment that give the Attorney General a prosecution

consent function shall be read as giving that prosecution consent function instead

to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(2)	For the purposes of this section the Attorney General has a prosecution consent

function under an enactment if under that enactment—

(a)	proceedings for an offence may not be instituted except by, or with the

consent of, the Attorney General (or by, or with the consent of, the

Attorney General or one or more other persons), or

(b)	the Attorney General (or the Attorney General or one or more other

persons) has a function of giving a consent to the taking of any other step

in connection with proceedings for an offence.

(3)	In subsection (1) and sections 12 and 13, “offence” includes a service offence as

defined by section 50 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52) (and the reference in

section 13(4) to a court includes a reference to a service court within the meaning

of section 324(4) of the 2006 Act).’.

Abolition of nolle prosequi

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

Lynne Featherstone

NC14

To move the following Clause:—

‘The power of the Attorney General to enter a nolle prosequi is abolished in

relation to proceedings in England and Wales.’.

Timing of parliamentary by-elections

Pete Wishart

NC15

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)

If—

(a)	the Speaker of the House of Commons has become aware that the seat of

a Member of the House has become vacant,

(b)	the period of 10 weeks has subsequently elapsed, and

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(c)	the House has made no order that the Speaker shall issue his warrant to

the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to make out a new writ for the

electing of a Member to fill the vacancy,

the Speaker must issue his warrant as soon as reasonably practicable.

(2)	Subsection (1) above shall not apply—

(a)	when the vacancy arises after the period of 55 months has elapsed since

the day on which that Parliament first met; or

(b)	where a seat has become vacant under section 160(4)(b) of the

Representation of the People Act 1983 but proceedings challenging the

requirement to vacate the seat remain outstanding.

(3)	The following enactments are repealed—

(a)	the Recess Elections Act 1975;

(b)	in section 93(5)(b) of the Representations of the People Act 1983, the

words from “or any earlier date” to “Recess Elections Act 1975”;

(c)	section 6(4) of the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975.’.

Dates of future general elections

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

NC17

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The next general election but one shall take place on 1 May 2014.

(2)	Each subsequent general election shall take place on the first Thursday in May in

the fourth year after the previous general election.

(3)	This section is subject to section [Power of House of Commons to vary date of

general election].’.

Dissolution of Parliament

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

NC18

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The next Parliament shall be dissolved on 3 April 2014.

(2)	The next Parliament may not be dissolved otherwise than as provided in

subsection (1).

(3)	Each subsequent Parliament shall be dissolved 30 days before the general election

provided for in section [Dates of future general elections].

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(4)	No subsequent Parliament may be dissolved otherwise than as provided in

subsection (3).’.

Power of House of Commons to vary date of general elections

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

NC19

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The House of Commons may, by resolution, appoint a day of the week other than

Thursday as the day on which a general election is to take place.

(2)	The power conferred by subsection (1) may not be used to set a date for a general

election—

(a)	earlier, or

(b)	more than six days later,

than the date provided for by section [Dates of future general elections].’.

Amendment of Representation of the People Acts

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

NC20

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Secretary of State may, by order made by statutory instrument, make such

amendments to the Representation of the People Acts as appear to him to be

necessary or expedient in consequence of sections [Dates of future general

elections] to [Power of House of Commons to vary date of general elections].

(2)	An order under subsection (1) is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution

of either House of Parliament.’.

Cap on number of special advisers

David Howarth

Mr David Heath

NC21

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The number of special advisers appointed by Her Majesty’s Government in the

United Kingdom shall be limited according to the procedure laid out in

subsections (3) to (6) of this section.

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(2)	Until the procedure laid out in this section has been completed, no new special

advisers may be appointed.

(3)	A Minister of the Crown must lay before Parliament an order setting a limit for

the total number of special advisers at any one time in the service of Her

Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom.

(4)	The order may make provision for different Ministers of the Crown to be allowed

to appoint different numbers of special advisers.

(5)	The order may make provision, within the limit referred to in subsection (3), for

there to be a limit to the number of special advisers who may be paid from public

funds at any one time.

(6)	An order under this section may not come into force until resolutions approving

it have been passed by both Houses of Parliament.’.

Promotion on merit

Dr Tony Wright

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger

Mr Gordon Prentice

Mr Charles Walker

Julie Morgan

David Heyes

Total signatories: 8

NC27

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	This section applies to the promotion of civil servants within the civil service.

(2)	A person’s promotion must be on merit.

(3)	The Commission must publish a set of principles to be applied for the purposes

of the requirement in subsection (2).

(4)	Before publishing the set of principles (or any revision of it), the Commission

must consult the Minister for the Civil Service.

(5)	In this Chapter “promotion principles” means the set of principles published

under subsection (3) as it is in force for the time being.

(6)	Civil service management authorities must comply with the promotion principles.

(7)	The promotion principles may include provision—

(a)	identifying the 200 most senior posts within the civil service, and

(b)	requiring the Commission’s approval to be obtained for a promotion to a

post identified by the provision in paragraph (a).

(8)	The Commission may participate in the process for a promotion to a post for

which its approval is required by paragraph 7(b).

(9)	It is for the Commission to decide how it will participate under the provision in

subsection (8).

(10)	The Commission must carry out whatever reviews of promotion policies and

practices it thinks are necessary to establish—

(a)	that the principle of promotion on merit is being upheld in accordance

with the requirement in subsection (2), and

(b)	that the requirement in subsection (2) is not being undermined in any way

(apart from non-compliance).

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Revised 2 March 2010